Annette Cycon, MSW

Founder

Annette has been a social worker, group facilitator and trainer for over 30 years. As the Founder and former Director of Training of MotherWoman, over 17 years, she developed programs and is well known as an advocate for mothers and a trainer in Perinatal Mood Disorders, particularly regarding the impact of structural social justice issues such as poverty, race and culture on maternal mental health. She is currently the Founder/Director of GPS Group Peer Support a national organization leading non-profits and state entities in implementation of GPS, an evidence-based group model which she developed with Liz Friedman. GPS is being implemented across a spectrum of lived experiences, including incarceration, addiction/recovery, bereavement, homelessness, and those targeted by discrimination.  Annette is proud that GPS is also being used successfully with men, in faith-based communities, with vulnerable students in both high school and college, as well as in women’s health programs in Guatemala.

My goal has always been to, not just help a person get through a particular challenging period of life, but to spark the internal wisdom and resilience that lies at the heart of every person, for life’s entire journey.

Liz Friedman, MFA

Founder

Liz sits on the MA Commission on the Status of Women and MA Postpartum Depression Commission, is on the Advisory Boards of MA PPD Fund and It Takes A Village, and has been involved in successful campaigns to pass Massachusetts’ legislation including PPD, Paid Sick Time, Paid Family Leave, Equitable Disability Insurance and Pregnant Workers Fairness Act which she led to passage. She is an associate at Effie’s Grace, focused on maternal-child health policy. She is formerly Program Director of MotherWoman and is currently co-founder/director of GPS Group Peer Support, a national organization leading communities, non-profits and state-entities in implementation of evidence-based group mental health care across a spectrum of lived experiences including incarceration, addiction/recovery, and those targeted by immigration discrimination. She is founder of We Stand Together, a new initiative addressing hate crimes and building solidarity. In 2010, she received the Ted Women’s Award for her outstanding work on behalf of mothers.

What inspires me about GPS is that when we listen to each other in a safe group environment, we tap into our own natural intelligence and power to make personal and collective change.

GPS Leaders

• Andrea Guzman Guatemalan women’s health
• Crystal Gurney LGBTQ, birth trauma, step families, pregnant and postpartum parents
• DeAnn Davies Native American communities, perinatal mental health, early childhood development
• Debbie Rodriguez Latina women’s mental health, faith-based communities
• Erica Napolitan maternal substance use and recovery
• Kitt Cox postpartum and parenting fathers, families of young children
• Lashonta Edwards perinatal families of color, African American families, foster parents
• Marianne Bullock incarcerated parents, parents in recovery, homeless parents
• Mia Edidin perinatal mood disorders, low income mothers, teen parents
• Nallely Willis parents facing immigration discrimination, low income parents, latinx parents
• Sarah Garcia homeless, foster, at-risk youth of color and teen moms, trauma-based yoga
• Suad Farole community based doulas, perinatal health, Muslim women
• Tawanda Evans-McIntosh perinatal, early childhood, NAS, low income and teen parents
• Yasmin Ahmed Muslim parents, refugee parents, immigrant parents